Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I understand that Cork is a large county and we want to see everything distributed fairly, which is what we are doing. With this fund, local authorities had to spend money by the end of the year. There was no point in my giving Cork twice what it asked for. Like everywhere else, it got 70% of what it asked for. Limerick got €1.1 million because it asked for a large allocation. It said it could get the roads done, so it got the money.

I moved more money into the LIS because I knew there were long lists across the country. The bigger picture is that the LIS was previously a Department of Transport scheme, and that Department has a substantially larger budget than mine. I have raised the issue of co-funding with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. In fairness, he has not ruled it out. He has to cut his cloth to his Department's measure, but we could get some matched funding from it, which would make a significant difference. I will continue to raise the matter with the Minister. Local authorities need to know that, if they get the money, they have to deliver.

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